Category Archives: England

An Easy Life

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Being back in America has been a change. Not a good change or a bad change. Just a change. I feel a more lazy and useless, obviously there was a lot more to do in London then my tiny uni town. Because London was the greatest place I’ve ever been, I feel a bit depressed having to be away from it. But it does feel nice to see my best friend everyday again, she is the only thing I missed about home. I appreciate my own nice and comfy bed and not having to wake up early.  Allison

my best friend, Anna, and me

Home sweet home?

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A little over a month ago, on 4th of July, I was unable to wrap my head around the fact that I was about to be out of the country for a month. Then once I got to London it was hard to believe I was actually there! After adapting to my temporary home, it was hard to believe that I was going to have to leave such a wonderful place. While I was on my way home, a 15 hour journey, it felt as if I was just going to a different country temporarily and heading back to England in no time. Now that I’m actually home, it feels as if I’m dreaming. I miss my friends, I miss my dorm room, I miss the British accents everywhere I go, I miss my teachers, I miss seeing castles everywhere… I just miss the experience I had!

All my friends and family back here in Oregon have been asking so many questions about my experience and I keep thinking to myself “wait…that actually happened?” It’s such a weird feeling. It makes me a little sad here and there, but then I realize that yes I do really miss England but what I miss more are the people that I met there. And they happen to live in the United States so that makes things slightly more convenient. Most of the friends I made are from Kentucky and we’re already scheduling a time for them to come visit me and vice versa 🙂 The photo to the left is of our group. We all bonded early on in this experience and didn’t really leave each others side the whole time. That’s me on the left, then Allison (my RA/ best friend ever), Casey (also my RA/my long lost older sister), then the 3 stooges, Trevin, Justin, and Garret. Those 3 have been buds since 7th grade and us 3 ladies had the chance to be in stitches over their hilarious comedic friendship over the course of 4 weeks. Miss them 🙁

 

I learned so much about England, the world, and myself this past month. Through my classes I was able to get a good grip on the media systems in England and how they differ from ours. I found it interesting how their monitoring programs for the magazines, newspapers, and television shows are funded by the public to increase the integrity of the press. As for my film class, we learned SO much information about production, sales, cinematography, genres, and themes in films all over the world. It increased my passion for film and I definitely would like to take more classes involving film. This picture is of my wonderful film class in front of the Harry Potter studios. An eye opening experience for a young student interested in film!

 

As for the culture, it wasn’t too much different that in America. There weren’t any language barriers besides trying to figure out heavy accents. The food was pretty similar except much more healthy than in the states because they don’t put as many preservatives and hormones in their food which was really nice! I enjoyed the public transportation so much. The tubes were amazing, so much better than spending 20 bucks on gas every time I wanted to go somewhere. The trains were a lot of fun too. On long train rides my friends and I would find some pretty fun things to do to pass the time. I did notice that the Brits don’t have much of a personal space bubble. If you have to stand like sardines in a tube then you did, no questions asked and there was nothing weird about it. Much different than here in the states. The differences in our culture and Englands culture may be slight, but living there you start to notice the little things more and more.

I felt like a new person coming home from this adventure. My parents noticed I’m much less uptight and more relaxed about life and all the twists and turns involved. I learned that even when things go wrong you don’t have to let it ruin your time. Just stand back up and keep having a blast because the bad things are lessons learned in hindsight. Life is way too short to sweat the small stuff or worry about what people think about you. I definitely plan to travel a LOT more very soon to discover more of the world and how it works. London made an adventure monster out of me and I am oh-so thankful for that 🙂

These last 2 pictures are of me on my way to the airport in Portland 5 weeks ago, and the second picture is of me leaving London. They pretty much wrap up my feelings about coming back home.

Cheers!

-Rachael

There’s No Place Like Home

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Arriving in London was hectic and exciting and I was buzzing with nerves. Even though I had been awake all night traveling, unable to sleep on the plane, when we landed I felt wide awake. Everything was new and exciting. When we got off the plane it was like running a gauntlet. We had to race to immigration and get our passports stamped then we had to run and get our bags and then we met up with people from different schools and all gathered for the coach that would take us to our home for the next month. All of it was energizing and scary and new and exciting and I was filled with energy and ready to see everything. I was ready for an adventure!!

Coming home was different. I still was unable to sleep on the plane and the gauntlet was basically the same, but instead of being exciting it was more aggravating because I wanted to be home and with my family.

I was very excited to be home and it was great to see my family again. I was filled with a different kind of excitement though. The adventure was coming to a close, I traveled for 25 hours without sleep and I really wanted a pillow. But it was wonderful to see the trees that they didn’t have in London and to recognize the roads I was on, and to see the Space Needle and to know that I was home. Though needless to say I did feel better and was more excited after I slept because then I got to pass out presents.

Both journey’s were wonderful, they were both part of the same adventure, this one was more bitter sweet because it felt more like an ending. Though every ending is a beginning, so the next adventure has already begun!!

Angela

Homeward Bound

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Well it’s almost time to head back to the States. I am certainly excited to see my family again but I am also very sad to leave. London has been so much more than I ever thought it would be the people, the sights and the culture was just amazing. Being able to sit down and talk to people and compare differences and marvel over similarities was absolutely the best.

Out of everything I experienced over here I think some of my top favorite differences would have to be:

The Food, it really didn’t matter what you were eating it still tasted cleaner than the food back home. I even went to a Burger King to test my theory and the food still tasted cleaner!!! I was very surprised. The same can be said for their pop, they use natural sugar no fructose corn syrup for them. It is amazing the difference it has on your body too!!! This was something that I never really thought about, yes I thought the food would be different, but I didn’t think about how different the same foods would be.

Attitude towards drinking: We got into a conversation with a couple people regarding the attitude that Americans have towards drinking. The one of the gentlemen said that it really bothered him that Americans feel that if you’ve had four or five beers already and it’s not even 5pm yet we automatically assume that ‘you’re a functioning alcoholic’ (I admit I laughed because that’s exactly what I was thinking) he argued that Londoners can just hold their drink better than we can. It was really interesting to see how the different cultures not only viewed the topic (drinking) but also each other in light of the topic. We discussed the frequency of consumption and how in the US we don’t usually start till after 5pm which caused dismay in one women who responded “But, what do you drink with lunch??!!”

The entire trip was absolutely fantastic and meeting people and making friends with people was my favorite part. It will be great to go home, but it will be sad to leave. I will just have to find a way to go back some day!!!

Angela

Jude Law and a Semester Abroad

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Thinking about going home is heart breaking. I am not looking forward to it. It’s not that I don’t miss home, it’s that I’ve had such the time of my life here in London that I never want to have to leave this place. A good analogy I thought of for my situation was that I’ve now spent an entire month in Eden and now I’m being forced to move to the garden east of Eden.
This new culture that I have thrown myself into has exceeded my expectations. Since living in London has always been a dream of mine, I imagined it as the greatest city in the world, and that’s exactly the experience I had.
Returning home will get me into a boring summer routine that I have practiced for the last few summers. The only reason I’m considering coming back home is for my two best friends (and my mother of course).

I have a list of things I will miss in London and this is a great place to write them down.
I will miss

  • the hussle and bussle of a big city.
  • the new friends I’ve made (british and america)

    my class

  • the castles all over England

    Warwick Caslte

  • all the beautiful museums with my favorite artists in them

    political picture from the Louve

  • the rich history of a city that can date back centuries
  • the gardens I found

    Hampstead Heath

  • being lost then finding something beautiful
  • ect.

This was a trip and an experience I will never forget. It definitely changed my life for the better. I will forever in my heart call London my home and count down the days until I can return.

xoxo Allison

All Good Things Must Come to an End

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I’m ready to leave.  I have loved being here, but I’m ready to go home.  I’m definitely not homesick.  I just am dying to share all of my adventures with my family, as one can only do so much using the internet.  I am torn between wanting to go home and wanting to stay.  There’s so much that I haven’t done yet, and I wish I had more time.

There are things that I will miss.  I will miss the scones with clotted cream and jam.  I can get scones and jam at home, but where will I get clotted cream?  I will miss The Tube.  I had never used public transportation until I got here, and it’s not nearly as disagreeable as I had thought it would be.  That being said, I will never take my dear car for granted ever, ever again.

I will miss London.  There’s something wonderful about this city that I’ve never really felt about a city before.  I’m not too sentimental about places, I don’t think, but it really felt like a place I could possibly come back to for an extended amount of time.  I might have mentioned in a previous blog that I’d never stayed in a big city for more than a couple days and that I wasn’t sure how I would like it.  Well, I liked it very much.  I’m not sure if it was simply the city aspect that I liked or if it was this specific city.  I’m leaning towards the latter.

Looking back to my pre-departure post, I said that I naively hoped that I would just fit right in, and I feel that, for the most part, I did.  I mean, it was probably very obvious to the native Londoners that I wasn’t from around here, but to my own self, I felt like I fit right in.  I didn’t feel like a fish out of water.  I’m surprised about this.  I was expecting it to be a lot harder than it was.  Interestingly enough, I also never developed those nerves that I discussed in length in my pre-departure post.

I mentioned wanting to leave any pre-conceived notions on the plane in order to be completely open to experiencing all that is this wonderful city.  I feel like I did a pretty good job of this, if I do say so myself.  I soaked up all I could while I was here, and I have been going nonstop for an entire month (I will probably crash and sleep for a week when I get home).  I have learned so much about the people and the culture.  Some of my favorite experiences of this trip:

Charing Cross Road – We went on my birthday.  So many bookshops!

Waterstones, a lovely chain bookstore they have over here. Kind of like our Barnes & Noble, which happens to be my most favorite store in the entire universe.

The Tower of London/The British Museum/The British Library – Our first class field trip.  What a full, wonderful day that was!

The Tower of London. The Crown Jewels were my favorite part. So sparkly!

Caerffilli Castle – Not actually in London.  It’s a lovely castle in Wales that a friend and I decided to visit on a whim.  I was especially proud of us for making it there and back without getting lost or stuck somewhere.

The main entrance to Caerffilli Castle

Warwick Castle – Another class field trip.  It’s a bit touristy, but very fun.  They had jousting reenactments and a tower devoted to the tv show Merlin (I am a huge fan).  My only regret was that I was too old to go into the Princess Tower.

Knights from the jousting reenactment.

I should probably stop now, else I’ll end up listing every single thing I’ve done in the last month.  They say that all good things must come to an end.  I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that, although I suppose that there is some truth to it.  After all, everything ends eventually.  But even though this wonderful, short chapter of my life is ending, I will always remember it.  And it’s not as if everything after this is bad.  I’m continuing on my path to things that will be just as exciting (but probably not as drastic) as studying abroad.

Moving on, I think I’m ready to go home.  I’ll have a nice, relaxing bit of a break before gearing up to start school again in the fall.  I get to move into my new apartment and decorate it (with some memorabilia from this trip)!  And I’ve got very exciting new:  my high school English and History teacher has asked me to give a guest lecture to her freshman classes on what I’ve studied while I’ve been abroad!  It should be a nice way to sort of wrap things up.

Cheers,

Emily

this month

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These past few weeks have been a fast blur. Living in London has been a dream come true.
I’ve gotten very used to the new slang I’ve learned, and I’ve used it everywhere I go! I’ve met some really great people and seen some really great things.

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the beauty of Paris. Me in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Paris for Bastille Day was beautiful but too crowded and very exhausting; I saw everything in one day.

The language barrier in Paris was difficult but do-able. I learned the hard way, if you go out to eat, they expect you to stay for like three hours. Staying at a restaurant for three hours was not my plan but it was part of the culture so it was nice. Also, their food in France is something that can’t be matched. I went to Paris a few years ago as well and remember the food being the best, and it still is. All that coffee and baguettes was delicious.

I was also able to go to Bath on a field trip. It was beautiful there and I wish I had more then just one day to spend there. I learned a lot about the baths in the Roman times and their traditional life style.

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view from the Elephant House Cafe in Edinburgh

Scotland was a place to be feared. It’s beauty ruled out everywhere I’ve ever seen. Edinburgh was a dream, in future years they should let students stay there longer then just one day.

Edinburgh Castle on the hilltop was a marvel. I also took a Literary Pub Tour! Two actors look us to pub locations that famous Scottish writers had gone to a lot in the 19th century, and they told us stories and recited poetry in English and in Scotts! The Scottish language is hard to understand but it is very interesting; it seems to be a bit like English but the words as in such a heavy Scottish accent and with a Scottish tongue that you can’t understand most of it.

Something that almost got me killed a few times that I’ve learned in London is their stop lights are different then ours. I was trying to cross the street, and I noticed the light turned yellow so I was like great they are about to stop! So I started walking, only to start running because the bus was honking and not stopping and coming right toward me. I learned that some lights here go from red to yellow to green and some go from green to yellow to red. I should just wait for the walk sign from now on.

xoxo Allison

Bittersweet

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Well, it’s my last day here in London. It’s 10am and I just got back from breakfast and am curled back up in bed trying to avoid packing for as long as I can. It’s strange to think I will probably never live in this cute little dorm room again even in my returning travels to London. It has become a little home-away-from-home for me. At breakfast this morning my RA’s and I reflected on this trip. I have become very close to both of them, spending many hours traveling to different countries, cities, markets, and other various places with them. We hit a point in our conversation where the mood shifted a little bit when someone mentioned going home tomorrow. Then Casey said, “Girls, this is the last breakfast we’re going to have with each other for awhile.” We all started to cry. I’m so blessed that I came across such amazing people while embarking on this adventure. We have been through a lot in these few short weeks, creating a bond that will surely not see an end for a very, very long time. Travel arrangements are already being made so that we can all see each other in  December and June and show one and other our hometowns that are all very far from each other. Okay, enough with the sappy stuff! I’ve been on some pretty amazing adventures these past few weeks. And by pretty amazing I mean experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life. I went to Dover yesterday. It’s a beach town on the English Channel. Last weekend, I went to Amsterdam, probably the strangest city imaginable. The week before, I went to Brighton, another beach town. Also, the day after Brighton I went to Bath. Probably one of my favorite experiences while being abroad.  Oh and did I mention that the Olympics are happening here right now? Talk about craziness in London!

I’ll start with Bath. For those of you that don’t know, Bath is located about an hour and a half outside of London. It’s where Romans used to bathe in a natural mineral hot spring in the beautiful countryside of England. The history behind this place blew my mind. We toured the original Baths, here’s some pictures:

This first one is of the cathedral right outside of the Roman Baths. So beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

The second photo is of the actual Roman Bath. The water looks gross, but it’s mineral water from a hot spring right below the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day before this, I went to Brighton. The coolest beach town EVER! It was the polar opposite to Bath, a historic landmark. Brighton is a hip, bohemian beach town with so many cute shops and pubs. I went with a few new friends and it was such a great bonding experience. My new friend, Colin and I ended up buying swim suits on the 60 degree weather day and jumped in the English channel and swam around for awhile. It actually wasn’t too cold, until we got out and the sun was not shining anymore. Nothing a little hot soup and cider couldn’t fix!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, for those of you who have visited Amsterdam there’s no need to re-inform you how weird that city is. For anyone looking for adventure, go there. And if you’re a girl, bring a guy friend for good measure. Aside from the sketchiness of the town, it is BEAUTIFUL. I am still trying to process it a week and a half later. The architecture was jaw dropping. We stayed in a hostel about a half a mile outside of the “ring” of the city which I’m thankful for. It was still a little weird on the inside but not like the ones located towards the red light district. We went on a bike ride around the city which was an absolute blast once I got over the crazy traffic thing. I am still convinced there are no such thing as rules in Amsterdam. The cars go wherever they want, the people walk wherever they want, the trams will run you over if you’re not paying attention, and last but not least, there are literally bikes EVERYWHERE. I thought people in Oregon rode a lot of bikes but boy was I wrong. If you don’t have a bike and live in Amsterdam… you don’t live in Amsterdam. The city is small but people have to get around fast, what better way to do that than on 2 wheels?

 

 

 

 

 

 

And last but not least, yesterday I went to Dover. This is where there’s white cliffs and black rocky beaches. It was breathtaking. Also, quite refreshing seeing as I’ve seen so much architecture. It was nice to see some natural beauty of England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have had such an amazing experience while studying abroad. I can’t even fathom it yet… It will be nice to get home to see my family though. I miss them so much and can’t wait to share my stories with them. Also, I wouldn’t mind a little more sun and I hear Oregon has plenty of that right now. I will be returning to London without a DOUBT in these next few years. Whether it be studying abroad or backpacking with my younger sister around Europe. This is not goodbye England, just a see you later. Now, time for a little nap before I pack up and head down to the market to spend the rest of my pounds on candy and trinkets for my friends and family back home. CHEERS!!!

Rachael

 

 

Technical difficulties

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Along with a wonderful experience traveling across the world comes some difficulties, to say the least. Wallet stolen, computer fried, and strep throat have all been some pretty significant set backs in school, traveling, and being able to post on this blog. I hate to fill this feed with bad news though! Needless to say London has been amazing these past few weeks. I’ve met some of my best friends, seen the most breathtaking sights, and learned so much about the world and myself. I’m going to cover what happened the second week I was here since that’s when my computer fried (but luckily there’s a computer shop right down the road!!). And see if I can figure out how to post my week 4 blog onto wordpress, it’s already on tumblr…my regular blog!

Week 2:

This is when classes started picking up pace quite a bit. 3 hour class, 1 hour break, 3 hour class, 2 hour break, mandatory film session for my British Film class, homework, field trip the next day, and repeat! It’s a bit of a shock being over here in the first place, but having to go to school was quite the adjustment with everything else going on! During this week my class went to the BBC (a famous news broadcasting company here in London) which absolutly blew my mind! I was in heaven because this industry has been of great interest to me for a long time, and I got to see live news rooms! Amazing! By the way, the two classes I’m taking are World Media Systems and British Popular Films.

Here’s me at BBC! I look like I belong here don’t I! (haha)

This same week for my film class we got to visit the british film museum! Now let me tell you, there was no comparison between that and Harry Potter world (our first field trip) but it was definitely a valuable experience.

Here’s me with Darth Vader! Don’t worry, I think he was sleeping 😉

While taking these two classes I’ve been able to zone in on what I want to do after college. I’ve always loved film, but now I feel like a professional! I look forward to taking more classes on film production because I enjoy this class so much. I wish that i would have just taken this class so I could focus on it more. The two classes I’m taking over here after definitely the hardest ones. Many of us are in both of the classes and are stressed out beyond belief pretty much every night. I’ve had to do more school work these last 2 weeks than I did in 1 term in many of my classes back at wou. I understand that theres a lot of information to fit in, but it’s also nice to have a little more time to travel during the week like the rest of the students have. I hope the professors let up a little bit after midterms or they are going to have some wiped out students on their hands!

Most of the material above is from my tumblr blog from week 2, and again I apologize for the time gap. It’s 2am over here, and I’m going to get some rest! I’ll post about my latest activities tomorrow. A little sneak preview: Amsterdam, Dover, Brighton, LOST. 🙂 Until next time! Cheers,

Rachael

Across the UK!!!!

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This weekend we went to Edinburgh (ed in burr ah) really amazing place!!! The area was absolutely beautiful you could look to your left and see the cliffs and turn to your right and see the ocean. The most interesting thing I found about the Scottish was their camaraderie with anyone. In London if you are on the same train or going the same way I can spark up a conversation with people but it is obvious that they are not accustomed to that sort of behavior. It is really easy to glide through my time here in London and not make any friends and it takes a lot of courage to introduce myself and try and establish a report with someone. However, in Scotland you just have to be breathing before a complete stranger will introduce themselves and start talking about anything.

The first people we met were on the train headed there, they knew we all were Americans and they had been playing a trivia game and a question about one of the states came up so they stood up and hollered out to the entire train and asked all of us what we thought. The second person we met was at a book store. When I went in to buy the book it started raining heavily, the owner of the book store said I couldn’t possibly leave with the weather as it was so he just stood there and asked me questions about the US for about an hour. Until the weather cleared and I was able to excuse myself, he happily would have kept talking for a long while.

It is really interesting the difference in social behavior over such a short distance!!

Angela